1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to golf equipment and, more specifically, to a golf ball having a pressure sensor, passive transmitter and a hand-held data acquisition and locator device containing an interactive information system application with a data transfer port.
The hand-held device locator function is used to determine the location of a target golf ball using an LED that increases in frequency indicating the location of the golf ball relative to the locator device. The handheld unit may also contain an audio component that changes in frequency as the locator device approaches the target ball.
The hand-held device is further used to download GPS data regarding the location of each tee and cup for each hole of a predetermined golf course and receive GPS data on demand to record the position of a ball during play and display the remaining yardage to the cup. The number of strokes per hole can additionally be entered during the course of play and displayed in the yardage display by toggling a switch from the yardage display to the stroke display.
The pressure sensor in the target golf ball is used to sense the surroundings of the ball upon landing. The pressure sensor is able to selectively determine the conditions surrounding the ball. This includes but is not limited to mud, dry sand, wet sand, water or dirt. Upon detecting the existing condition, this information is transmitted to a central processor. The environmental information along with the location of the ball is compiled to give an accurate real-time description of the conditions of the course. This real-time condition description can then be transmitted to other golfers in order for them to play accordingly.
The hand held device is further used to aid the golfer in club selection depending on the conditions surrounding the ball. It will indicate to the golfer what he used in prior similar conditions before and the success rate in that situation.
Furthermore the hand-held device has a universal serial bus (USB) port that provides for the downloading of information regarding a specific golf course, as aforementioned, as well as the ability to transfer all data acquired during a golf game to an external computer component for further processing. The supplied data may also be uploaded to a software program for tracking one's handicap, to an internet website or to hardware in a golf course clubhouse for monitoring tournaments, outings and the like. Since tournament use will require a large number of people to use the present invention simultaneously on the same course a means for ball and player differentiation must be included. Each ball in a sleeve could have a numbered chip embedded therein and the transmitter would have a bar code scanner included therein to scan the bar code on the box of the sleeve prior to going into play in order to read the embedded code and will then on recognize only that specific code until the next ball is activated and a penalty stroke is automatically added to the stroke counter.
The hand-held device may also have a removable memory card similar to those used in digital cameras to provide for greater data storage capability and an increased ease of transferring data to other applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other locator devices designed for tracking golf balls during play. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 1,620,290 issued to Rubin on Mar. 8, 1927. Another patent was issued to Horchler on Jan. 1, 1974 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,730. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,340 was issued to Hosoya on Sep. 30, 1986 and still yet another was issued on Apr. 21, 1987 to Barricks et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,039.
Another patent was issued to Yamazaki et al. on Sep. 5, 1995 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,314. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,531 was issued to Little on May 6, 1997. Another was issued to Chadwell on Sep. 2, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,533 and still yet another was issued on Sep. 2, 1997 to Kroll et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,534.
Another patent was issued to Helderman on Apr. 28, 1998 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,815. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,057 was issued to Quimby et al. on Jun. 8, 1999. Another was issued to Kuesters on Sep. 5, 2000 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,504 and still yet another was issued on Dec. 16, 1988 to Sonigo as U.S. patent No. FR2616335.